Tofu Baycon Strips (and Breadless BLTs)

There aren't that many ways that I love tofu, but well-seasoned and crispy is one of the ways I do. To be completely honest, I've usually eaten half the batch of these Baycon Strips just out of the airfryer before they even have a fighting chance of making it into a BLT or atop a salad. Do these strips taste like real bacon? No, let's not be silly. It's tofu. Are they delicious, crispy, and bacon-ish? Yes, and that hits the spot for me. Hopefully it does for you, too!

The Baycon Strips

Yield: 4 servings of 5 to 7 strips each, totaling 20 to 28 strips
​Macros (per serving): 145 calories | 10g protein | 10g fat | 1g net carbs
​Prep: 10 minutes (not including time to press tofu) | ​Marinate: minimum 30 minutes | ​Bake: 8 to 14 minutes in an air fryer (may need to be done in 2 batches), or 20 to 30 minutes in an oven
Storage: refrigerated for up to 4 days. Crunch will be lost with storage and strips will become more chewy in texture.
Ingredients:
  • 4 servings (340g pressed weight ✎) extra-firm tofu, room temperature
  • 2 tablespoons (30ml) melted refined (ie. flavorless) coconut oil or neutral-flavored oil of choice
  • 2 tablespoons (30ml) tamari, soy sauce, or aminos
  • 1½ teaspoons liquid smoke
  • ​1½ tablespoon (8g) nutritional yeast flakes
  • heaped ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
  • heaped ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
  • heaped ¼ teaspoon ​onion powder
  • ¼ teaspoon smoked salt (optional)
  • heaped ⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
  • heaped ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
Directions:
  1. Press your block of tofu. I usually press mine overnight or while away at work.
  2. Whisk the marinade ingredients together in a small bowl. If your coconut oil solidifies, microwave it for a few seconds to liquify it again.
  3. Slice the pressed tofu into ⅛-inch (3mm) strips. I use a large kitchen knife for this. An attempt to slice it with a mandoline failed miserably.
  4. Place the tofu strips snugly in a single layer on the bottom of a pan or container(s).
  5. Drizzle the tofu with the marinade and spread the marinade across the top to cover all of the tofu. I use my fingertips or a small spatula for this. I only marinate the one side and leave the other side looking a bit naked. If you prefer, you could use half of the marinade, flip, and use the other half. However, it's extra work and the overall amount of marinade is pretty small.
  6. Set the strips aside to marinate for at least half an hour. Refrigerate if marinating for more than an hour.
  7. ​Preheat the air fryer or oven to 400°F (200°C).
  8. If using the oven, spread the marinated strips out in a single layer on a non-stick or parchment-lined baking sheet.
  9. Air fry for 8 to 14 minutes or oven bake for 20 to 30 minutes. Flip and begin monitoring for desired texture at the low end of the time range. Cooking time will vary quite a bit depending on how well-pressed the tofu was, how thinly it was sliced, and preferred crispiness. I often pull out the thinner, crispier ones as they become ready and leave others to continue baking until they've reached my preferred texture. I find the strips most bacon-esque when airfried to crispy.
  10. Enjoy hot and fresh from the air fryer/oven.

The BLTs

Yield: 2 servings of 2 BLTs each, totaling 4 BLTs 
​Macros (per serving): 500 calories | 22g protein | 42g fat | 5.5g net carbs
​Macros (per BLT): 250 calories | 11g protein | 21g fat | 3g net carbs
Prep: 10 minutes 
Storage: refrigerated for up to a 6 hours. Note that the Baycon Strips will lose their crunch and become chewy. Do not heat stored BLTs. Enjoy cold.
Ingredients:
  • 160g iceberg lettuce or lettuce of choice (roughly half a small head) ✎
  • 1 medium (123g) tomato, chopped or sliced
  • ¼ cup (60ml/55g) mayonnaise
  • 1 batch ​Tofu Baycon Strips
Directions:
  1. Prepare the tomato as per the ingredient list.
  2. Divide the lettuce into 8 small stacks (roughly 2-3 leaves per stack). Or, if your leaves are larger, form 4 stacks.
  3. Dollop the mayonnaise on 4 of your stacks and spread it out. Or, 1 side of your stacks if using larger leaves.
  4. Top the mayo with equal amounts of the tomato and the Tofu Baycon Strips.
  5. Cover your fillings with the undressed stacks of lettuce to form a sandwich. Or, fold over the unfilled side if using larger leaves.
  6. Enjoy fresh and crispy.
✎ Notes:
  • Coconut oil has a more similar meltiness and mouthfeel to animal-based fats. This is why I prefer it in this recipe. Palm oil would be another option with a similar quality.
  • The weight given for tofu is pressed weight. This is how weight is typically given on tofu packaging in North America. However, most tofu comes packed in water and weighs more. By my calculation, 4 unpressed servings of extra-firm tofu weighs roughly 420g.
  • Vegan bacon marinades often contain a sweetener and maple flavor. I prefer mine without. Feel free to add a few drops of maple-flavored liquid stevia and/or or maple extract to the marinade if you like yours sweet. I am not sure how this recipes would turn out with a sugar-free maple syrup.
  • Lettuce leaves come in a wide range of sizes and I have found US national database leaf sizes for iceberg lettuce to be very unrealistic. Their medium leaf is 8g, which is a leaf about the size of my palm, whereas I would say a medium leaf is roughly the size of my full hand with fingers splayed. A leaf that size weighs about 20g. For my BLTs, I used roughly 20 palm-sized lettuce leaves, or pieces of lettuce leaves (because when do they ever come off the head in whole pieces..?)
  • Macros for this recipes are calculated with American national nutritional data (i.e. NCCDB & USDA entries in Cronometer) for all ingredients apart from the tofu (House Foods), liquid smoke (Stubb's) and nutritional yeast flakes (blend of Bob's Redmill and Foods Alive unfortified).
  • Macro numbers are rounded. Numbers equal to or greater than 10g are rounded to the nearest whole number (e.g. 10g, 11g, 12g, etc.) and numbers below 10g are rounded to the nearest 0.5g (0.5g, 1g, 1.5g ... 9g, 9.5g). Any numbers below 0.5g are given as is (e.g. 0.1g, 0.2g, etc.). Calories are rounded to the nearest multiple of 5.